Changes
by reminiscent-afterthought
Summary: When things remain stagnant, one cannot help but wish for change. When things change though, we find some were better the way there were, but going back isn't easy. For Lady Phoenix Fire Rose's "Girl Harry Turned Guy" competition


**A/N**: This is written for Lady Phoenix Fire Rose's "Girl Harry Turned Guy" competition...well, I guess it's not really competition, but you know.

I know Lily is 20 when she has Harry, so she's either nineteen or twenty when she falls pregnant with "him".

Don't worry. Next chapter will be longer. This is somewhat of an introduction.

Enjoy.

* * *

_**Changes**_

_Prologue_

'We're having a baby?' James Potter repeated faintly.

His wife, Lily, glared somewhat with her emerald eyes, before her features softened. 'We're having a baby,' she repeated, somewhat resemblant to a mother patiently explaining house rules to a child. 'Isn't it wonderful?'

The black haired male simply stood there, impersonating a fish.

'A baby.' he repeated again.

'Do you want me to put the Babbling Curse on you?' Lily asked, red hair catching the afternoon sun as she turned her head.

'No,' the other all but squeaked. The woman really had him around her little finger. 'That's all right. But…a baby.'

Lily didn't know whether to be exasperated or amused with her husband.

* * *

'It's a girl,' the Healer revealed with a smile, slipping her wand into her cloak-sleeve. 'And perfectly healthy by the looks of things.'

Lily returned the smile, although hers was more from relief than anything else. It was her first pregnancy after all, and a few years earlier than she would normally have liked. She was only nineteen – she should have had plenty of time to look ahead. Perhaps get a Healing or Potions Mastery…but the war that had descended upon them before their graduation had changed many things. James had always dreamed of becoming a professional Quidditch player but had chosen by his NEWT year to pursue a career as an Auror instead.

'It's just as good,' he said by means of explanation, shrugging it off nonchalantly. He still flew under the Disillusion charm when he could though, wild and unkempt hair bursting with life in the breeze without no-one to witness. Their lives – all of them – had been reduced to a time of fighting or fleeing. Dreams were put on hold, or sped up into the present. After all, if someone told her a few years back she'd be married by eighteen and bearing child before twenty, she'd have sent them straight to Madam Pomfrey upon the assumption that they had taken a blow to the head – courtesy of a bludger.

But there were plenty of opportunities for happiness. For instance, the life growing on in her uterus. Their nice cosy home…even if they had to leave it often for Order business.

Which reminded her. She would have to tell Albus. And no doubt James wanted to tell Sirius and Remus and Peter too. She was surprised he hadn't already to be honest. After the initial shock, he looked like he'd ingested a rather large amount of the Essence of Euphoria.

* * *

'We should come up with a name,' the coppery headed female said suddenly as she relaxed on the couch, watching her husband change the conjured curtains from green to pink and back to green.

James lowered his wand, scrutinising the pastel shade. 'Darker perhaps,' he mused.

Lily sighed and waved her own willow stick and making them yellow. 'Sit down,' she scolded. 'We should decide on a name.'

'Right,' the other mumbled, running a hand through his jet black hair. 'A name.' Then there was a pout. 'I can't make her name "James", can I?'

'No,' Lily answered, although she was chuckling inside. 'A girl deserves her mother's name.'

'We can't have two Lilys,' James protested.

'We couldn't' have had two James' either,' the pregnant woman pointed out. She was a few months along and simply tired; the Fidelius Charm serves as a protection to be sure, releasing a great deal of stress…but at the same time, it trapped them within the house. With his Invisibility Cloak, James had reverted back to his old school ways and snuck out on occasion, and they had a constant stream of visitors, but after a prophecy that possibly condemned their unborn child, they had been forced to sacrifice their freedom for her safety.

It was the restlessness that caused James to turn the curtains blue. Not the longing for a son. That was further enforced when he changed them back to pink, then a mauve shade.

'That looks rather cute,' he mused, cocking his head slightly. Lily agreed, glad that issue was settled. The changing colours made her head spin.

* * *

Five months into Lily's pregnancy, they still hadn't managed to settle on a given name. They agreed her name would pass on as the middle name of their child – with James immediately adding that any son would bear his own in the same place of honour, but they'd gone back and forth through their parents' entire list of names and had come up with absolutely nothing.

After all, who wanted to name their daughter Apennina?

'You're name's after a flower,' Mrs Evans had pointed out.

'Yes,' Lily had replied, a little wearily. 'A common flower though. I've never heard of Apennina.'

'It's from the _Anemone apennina_ dear,' her mother explained. 'The blue Anemone.'

She just shook her head.

'How about Cassiopeia?' Sirius suggested.

He received several odd looks in return.

'A star,' he clarified.

The odd looks persisted.

'How about a simpler name,' James suggested.

They thought for a moment, with the heart-filled absence of Remus due to the full moon, and the unexplained missing Peter.

'My mother hates the name Harry,' Padfoot inputted suddenly, grin somewhat fading as he thought of his estranged family. 'It's right up there with her list of nasty common names.'

'Along with James and Lily I presume,' Prongs replied.

'They're her top three.'

Silence settled again.

'Aargh,' Sirius declared after a brief pause. 'Let's just name her Pronglet!'

Lily gave him a death glare and he fell silent. James continued thinking aloud.

'Harry, Harry…' He suddenly snapped his fingers. 'I've got it: Harriet!'

'Harriet,' Lily repeated, before smiling slightly and asking in a rhetorical manner: 'This wouldn't have anything do with the time I was reading "Harriet the Spy" in the train, would it?'

'Harriet it is,' Mrs Evans declared, clasping her hands. 'An adorable name: Harriet Lily Potter.'


End file.
